Marchlands s01e04 Episode Script

Episode 4

- Mum.
- Mm?
How do you know if you're really sick or
whether it's just something you've done?
What?
Like if you have a headache,
you could have a brain tumour
or you could just have a hangover.
How do you tell?
I think most people could
tell the difference.
How?
Does it feel different if you're really ill?
I don't know. Probably.
I don't feel different.
- No, sweetheart.
- I feel fine.
But you keep saying
that I need to get better.
- And you are getting better.
- But how do you know?
I feel just the same.
Trust me, you're getting better.
It just takes time.
How will you know when to stop?
The doctors will know.
So they'll know,
but I won't feel any different?
- No, that's not quite
- What's the point of getting better, then,
if I just feel the same?
I hate being sick!
Thanks for your support.
Well, she's got a point.
You started that.
Why are you talking about brain tumours?
Don't matter. Forget it.
You'll be OK.
- Bye.
- See you next week, Father.
- Father.
- Hello.
How are you both?
Very well, thank you, Father.
Ah, Paul. Ruth.
Father.
- How are things?
- Fine, thank you.
- Yes. Better.
- Good.
I'm glad to hear it.
You're both still in my prayers.
Thanks, Father.
- Did you hear?
- Oh, I know.
Oh, hello, Mr Bowen, Mrs Bowen.
Disgraceful. No shame.
I was going to go visit Alice's grave.
Oh. Oh, right.
I can go another time.
I just thought it might be nice
to walk back as a family.
OK. Let's do that, then.
No.
- No. It's fine. You go.
- Are you sure?
I'll see you back at the house.
Paul, I'm not going to disappear.
- That were my fault.
- I was only in Leeds.
I just missed the last bus home.
I thought I'd lost you.
I came back.
They're waiting.
You go ahead. I won't be long.
Ruth not walking with us?
She's got things to do.
She'll be back later.
Later when? Wednesday?
Stop it, Mum.
I told you. That's done with.
- Can I help you?
- Jesus! Oh.
Sorry.
Were you wanting confession
by any chance?
No, Father. I was just
I feel a bit daft now, to be honest.
But I don't know where else to go.
Am I supposed to guess, is that it?
- Were you here in 1967?
- Yes.
Do you remember a girl called Alice Bowen?
Why do you ask?
She used to live at Marchlands.
I live there now, with my family.
Uh-huh?
I think Alice is still there.
Why don't we go somewhere
a bit more private?
Maybe the monitor picked up
a radio station or something.
But it was playing that tune.
Well, I don't know. I can't explain it.
You do believe me?
I believe you.
But I know how little sleep you're getting.
- I'm not imagining this.
- I didn't say that.
But when you're exhausted,
it's easy to miss things.
Or connect things
which aren't connected.
- Your mind plays tricks.
- I know what I heard.
It's not my mind playing tricks.
There's something about this house.
- What?
- You're not here. You don't know what it's like.
- It's an old house. You're tired.
- I think it's got something to do with Alice.
The baby?
The other Alice.
The one who used to live here.
Oh. The other Alice!
The one you named our daughter after.
Now you think she's haunting the place?
- I don't know. Maybe.
- For God's sake, Nisha! Listen to yourself!
It's ridiculous.
First it was some old photo,
then that stupid mural.
- Now it's a haunted music box!
- I'm just
No. I don't want to hear it.
Enough's enough.
- I don't want to come home to this.
- But I
No! I mean it.
There are better things
to be worrying about!
Like what?
What are the "better things"
I should be worrying about, Mark?
Amy's drawing.
There's no way she could've known.
You said your daughter's
receiving medical care?
Yeah. They think it's a psychiatric problem.
Have you spoken to her doctors
about this?
My wife says they'd think I'm mad.
Ah.
And what does she think?
She agrees with them.
I'm not a doctor.
I don't interfere in medical treatment.
So you don't believe me, either.
I didn't say that.
What time is it?
What are you doing?
I couldn't sleep.
I thought I'd catch up on some paperwork.
- Is it important?
- Just costing a job.
Oh, shit.
Give her here.
I can manage.
Look, leave it. I'll sort it.
Ah, there we are.
Why don't you go back to bed?
And who's gonna look after her?
I don't have to be in first thing.
I can take her for a bit.
OK, fine. You take her. I'll go out.
- Out? Where?
- Wherever I want.
Oh
Over here, Mummy! Over here!
Mummy!
Over here, Mummy! Over here!
Over here, Mummy! I'm over here!
- Mrs Bowen. Are you lost?
- No. I know where I am.
This is where Robert left Alice
the day she died.
Somewhere here, yes.
It's very close to your house.
If she'd walked that way,
things might've been very different.
But you didn't see anything?
No.
Mr Bowen came and raised the alarm.
Then the police arrived.
But before that, nothing unusual?
No vehicles? No strange people?
No. Sorry.
I gave my statement to the police.
There's nothing to add.
Excuse us. Come along, Olive.
I'll miss this.
I mean, being with you.
Like Like this.
You'll meet loads of other girls.
But you were first.
They say you never forget your first.
Will you miss me?
Only when you've actually gone.
You're still here.
Yeah.
For now.
Now is all I want.
- She's beautiful.
- She is, isn't she.
So how is it, being a dad?
Weird.
When I look at her,
I can see my life fast-forwarding.
Walking. Talking.
School. Boyfriends. College.
Job. Wedding.
Grandchildren.
She's like a little time machine.
I can see myself in my seventies now
cos of her.
Is that a bad thing?
It's a bit scary.
When I left here,
I thought I was going to do everything.
See everything.
I thought I might end up
on the other side of the world,
not the other side of the village.
Well, at least you left and came back.
Some of us never got to leave at all.
When do you go?
Tomorrow.
Gives me a week to settle in
before classes start.
You're excited.
I'll give you the address.
You can come visit if you like.
But I'd like to see you.
You'll have a whole new life.
This is your past.
Your future's out there.
What about your future?
This is it.
- Here.
- It doesn't have to be.
Mum's looked after me for so long.
She's going to need someone
to look after her one day.
Who else is there?
Just doesn't seem fair.
Life's like that.
Go on.
Go now. Before we spoil it.
Ruth
Do you remember Marchlands
when you first lived in the village?
Yes.
Who was living in it then?
An older couple.
The family owned the sawmill at Airesdale.
Was there a child in the house?
A little girl?
I think they had a granddaughter.
Do you remember her name?
Sorry.
Why are you asking me that?
I'm just interested in the house.
I feel like I'm going mad
up there sometimes.
All these little weird things happening.
Noises and doors opening.
It's an old building.
That's what Mark says.
He basically told me
I was being hysterical.
Like I'm some silly little girl.
Oh, I'm sure he didn't mean that.
I don't know.
He's changed so much recently.
Do you know that deaf woman
who lives up the Forest Road?
- Olive Runcie?
- Yeah.
What's she like?
I don't think I've ever spoken to her.
I sort of knew her mother, Liz.
But she's dead now.
- So she lives up there on her own?
- As far as I know.
Bit of a recluse, I think.
You mustn't say.
You've got to keep out of it.
- But he has a right to know.
- How's dinner doing?
Nearly done.
You can fetch Ruth if you like.
You don't know anything.
You'd just be repeating gossip.
Violet Slater's husband heard him
bragging in the pub.
Gossip. Do you want to destroy
your son's marriage?
- I'm not the one in the wrong.
- You will be if you tell Paul.
Wouldn't you want to know?
In his situation? Wouldn't you?
No.
I don't think I would.
In some cases
ignorance is bliss.
Ignorance is never bliss.
- Smells good.
- Take a seat.
In the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Bollocks.
Amy's my baby, Alice.
I know she might seem like
a big girl to you,
but she's still that tiny thing
that I held the day she was born.
I made her a promise then.
I promised I'd always look after her,
keep her safe from harm.
Now I have to sit and watch her suffer.
There's nothing I can do about it.
Because it's not down to me this time.
It's down to you, Alice.
So I'm asking you
for Amy's sake
for my sake.
Please.
Please leave her alone.
What on earth are you doing?
I just thought
I mean
I was just watching her sleep.
Come to bed.
Askor.
I don't know what it means.
I don't know what you're trying to tell me.
Is this to get my attention?
What am I supposed to be looking for?
Look, this is a bit awkward.
We're neighbours, sort of,
and we've never been introduced,
so I thought
- Nisha?
- Yes.
How did you know?
Mark told me about you.
Mark?
- You mean he's been here?
- He runs up here.
- Along the road.
- Yes. He does. So?
He visits sometimes.
He visits? Really!
We talk. That's all.
- I think you and I need to talk.
- This is not a good time.
I think there's never going to be
a good time for this.
- I think you should leave.
- I just want to know what's going on.
- I want to know why he's lying to me.
- I can't help you.
- You're the only person who can help me.
- Please.
April '88?
6:52am
on the 21 st April
to 12 minutes past 8pm
on the 22nd.
37 hours.
I was a mum for 37 hours.
I thought I heard a car.
- Where's your father?
- In the garden, talking to Ruth.
Talking?
Good for him.
I can barely get a word out of her.
- Not since her night out.
- It were hardly that.
What was it, then?
- Has she told you what she was doing?
- Getting away from me.
- She's blaming you?
- It were my fault.
I shouldn't have spoken to her like that.
That's rich.
Why?
Why is that rich?
What is it, Mum?
You know that Keith boy?
The student.
- Brian.
- Yes.
He's been bragging in the pub
that he spent the night with Ruth in Leeds.
I think it's good what you're doing,
keeping Alice's little patch of garden going.
I had to.
She loved it so much.
Planting. Watching things grow.
Nice way to remember her.
You know, we used to grow
all our own vegetables here.
Course that goes back to the war.
Evelyn managed it all back then.
I was away so long.
When I got back, Paul hardly knew me.
Neither did Evelyn, really.
That must've been hard.
I think it was harder
for the people at home.
The struggle to keep things going.
To pretend everything was normal when
nobody really knew what was happening.
It was heroic, really.
She's a fighter. No denying that.
I don't want Ruth to know.
What? Why not?
She ought to know!
I don't want her to know
people are talking
and that you know
and that you've told me.
But, Paul
I'm going out. I need to think.
Paul?
Come in, Father. Come in.
- Let me take your coat.
- Thank you.
- It's just upstairs.
- Right.
- Haven't you got a bag or something?
- For what?
I don't know. Your equipment.
Wooden stakes? Silver bullets?
- I'm not Van Helsing, Eddie.
- Sorry. I thought
I've got everything I need
to give this place a blessing, OK.
OK.
Christ made his home with us.
May he bless this home with his presence.
May he always be among this family.
Let them seek to make this home
a dwelling place of love,
diffusing far and wide
the goodness of Christ.
Oh. Sorry. Amen.
Protect them, Lord, awake and asleep.
Amen.
Did you get in that corner, Father?
- Oh, and there by the door.
- I'm not fumigating the place.
What the hell's going on here?
This is Father Boyle.
I asked him to bless the house.
- You what?
- You must be Amy.
- Ow!
- Hey, stop that. Leave her alone.
- I was just
- I don't care. Get out!
- You're lucky I'm not calling the police.
- There's no need for this.
Now get out.
And keep away from my daughter.
- Understand?
- I'm sorry, Father.
Have you finally flipped?
What's going on in there? A priest!
- What harm could it do?
- What harm?
You drag that mumbo jumbo,
bells and smells racket in here
and you wonder what harm it could do?
What about the mumbo jumbo
in those psychiatry books?
What about the way you listen to any crap
from someone in a white coat?
Oh, grow up, will you!
You're trying to drag us back to the Dark Ages!
They'd have someone like Amy
burned at the stake.
- I'm just trying to help.
- Help? You think it helps her to know
that her dad believes in
the healing power of magic water?
You don't know
what you're talking about.
You rule out other possibilities
in case you don't know everything.
I know you're a frigging idiot.
I know that you're making this
100 times worse for Amy.
How do you know?
You never listen to her.
She's told you for months what's going on.
But you still don't believe her.
- Alice?
- Because she's sick.
Why can't you get that into your head?
She is sick!
Yeah, and she'll have heard all that,
so well done.
Alice?
Amy?
- Amy?
- She's not up here.
Helen!
Amy?
- Amy, where are you?
- Amy!
Amy! Come back.
Amy!
- Get you something?
- Whisky. Double.
Oh, no, he's done it again!
You walk into it every time. You idiot.
Wait for me!
Wait for me!
I'll put the kettle on.
Don't worry, Ruth, love.
He'll be back soon.
What's going on?
I don't know what you mean.
What have you said to him?
I told him about Brian Keith.
He had a right to know.
I don't believe this.
- Where are you going?
- To look for him.
Amy?
Amy!
Can you hear me?
Amy!
Alice?
You're Brian Keith, aren't you?
Yeah. So what?
Can I have a word with you?
- You can have two if you want.
- In private.
Look, what is this? Who are you?
I'm Ruth Bowen's husband.
Hello?
Is that you?
What do you want?
So, what do you want?
I want you to stop telling stories
about my wife.
- Stories? Is that what they are?
- I don't care. I just want them to stop.
- And I want you to stay away from her.
- Is that what she wants?
- Yes.
- Qualified to speak for her, are you?
- I'm her husband.
- And an expert in what she wants, obviously.
You know nothing about her.
If you really understood what she wanted,
she wouldn't be so miserable.
- Shut your mouth.
- She wouldn't have kissed me.
- I'm warning you.
- Or flung herself at me.
I'm sorry. Nothing happened!
All right? Nothing happened!
Paul!
Come on. Leave him.
Come on. Get out of here.
You shouldn't be near the edge.
It's very dangerous.
Sorry.
You nearly fell in.
- You caught me.
- You were lucky.
I saw you going past the house.
I came to see if you were all right.
You shouldn't be out here on your own.
- I ran away.
- How did you end up here?
Did you get lost?
No. A friend showed me.
Where's your friend?
She's a secret friend.
I had a secret friend once.
Mine's called Alice.
Amy?
Amy!
Oh, Amy.
Oh. Are you all right?
I'm all right. Olive saved me.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
What's going on?
I went to see Olive today.
Olive? Why?
To see what she was like.
To try and work out
why you've been lying to me.
Lying? What about?
You told me
you worked in her garden.
- I did.
- You had an affair with her.
That was 20 years ago.
You've been visiting her
when you go out running.
That just happened.
I'm sorry.
Oh, we have got ourselves
into a bad place, Mark.
I know.
We can fix it.
I promise.
Maybe.
But not tonight.
There's something you need to do.
What?
Olive was pregnant when you left.
Why didn't she say anything?
She thought people
might make her get rid of it,
so she kept it a secret.
But there were complications
and the baby only survived for a few hours.
It was a boy.
You need to go and see her.
Now?
She's waiting for you.
What about us?
Is she all right?
As far as I can tell.
She said she was sick of
all the arguments.
She's not the only one.
She thinks it's all her fault.
It's all our fault.
So what do we do?
What you do is keep out of my way,
stop dabbling in
stupid hand-knitted solutions
and leave Amy to the professionals.
- I'm her dad.
- That's no excuse.
I thought you were going to kill him.
So did I.
I don't know what's happening to us.
I don't know what to do.
If you want my advice, son
You should leave.
- What?
- This place.
The house. Your mum. Me. Alice.
There's too much history.
You're trapped if you stay here.
You need to take Ruth and move away.
Far away.
Forget us. Start again.
- But what about Mum?
- It's your life, son. Yours and Ruth's.
Don't ruin it for your mother's sake.
It's not worth it. Trust me.
I mean it.
Go.
Just don't ever tell her I said that.